Kids spend summer in classrooms

More school districts suggesting extra study

Published: Tuesday, June 13, 2000

WASHINGTON {AP} All year, Wayne Proctor watched his second-grade daughter struggle with learning fractions and counting money. So when her teacher recommended summer school for math, Proctor was grateful.

"In the long haul, we have to begin to realize that summer school is not a punishment," said Proctor, a copy center manager whose daughter Jeannelle, 8, attends Stevens Elementary in the District of Columbia. "I know she's not a person who hates school. This year has just been different from what she's used to."

More students than ever are swamping summer school classes as educational systems seek to end social promotion of students who aren't ready for the next grade or provide enrichment programs for more successful pupils.

District of Columbia schools estimate that 22,000 of its 71,000 students will be back in class when the academic year ends next week, up slightly from last year. New York City schools expect 250,000 students this summer, seven times what the million-student district had last year. And Detroit schools, requiring summer classes for the first time, project 30,000 to 35,000 of their 167,000 total students will attended summer school, a fourfold increase over the 1999 voluntary program.

Nearly a third of the nation's 15,000 districts require summer school classes for children who fail certain standardized tests, receive low marks from teachers or skip school regularly.